Grant Aid to Afghanistan for the "Project for Construction of the Terminal of Kabul International Airport"

May 18, 2005

1. The Government of Japan has decided to extend grant aid of up to three billion yen to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for the purpose of contributing to the implementation of the "Project for Construction of the Terminal of Kabul International Airport." The documents regarding this grant aid were exchanged between Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura from the Japanese side and Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Abdullah from the Afghanistan side on May 18 (Wednesday) in Tokyo.
2. After experiencing years of conflict, Afghanistan is now carrying forward the peace and reconstruction process based on the Bonn Agreement. In a multiethnic country often referred to as an "ethnic mosaic," national reconciliation is an immediate issue to be dealt with in promoting peace. As a landlocked state, reconstruction of Afghanistan's air transportation is crucial to ensure the smooth flow of people and goods between Afghanistan and its donor countries so as to steadily implement the assistance for reconstruction. In particular, the facilities of the only international airport in the country, Kabul International Airport, were destroyed through the war, the passenger terminal building is now lacking in space to cope with the number of passengers at peak times, and necessary facilities also lacking. Furthermore, as passengers for both international and domestic flights are concentrated in one terminal, the airport authority cannot provide essential security measures to counter terrorism. Under such circumstances, the Government of Afghanistan established the "Project for Construction of the Terminal of Kabul International Airport" to construct a new terminal west of the current one to serve exclusively for international flights. The project aims to improve the flow of passengers and goods through the airport as well as its passenger services. It was also designed to enable strict immigration control by utilizing the existing terminal exclusively for domestic flights. The Government of Afghanistan has requested funds from the Government of Japan to implement this Project.
3. The implementation of this Project will enable substantial reduction of time required for boarding and immigration procedures and will promote the flow of people and goods. This, in turn, will contribute to steady advancement in the reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan. As the terminal to be constructed will serve exclusively for international flights and the existing one for domestic flights only, it will become possible to provide adequate immigration control so as to enforce security measures to counter terrorism.
4. This grant aid is to be implemented as part of humanitarian and reconstruction assistance the Government of Japan announced at the International Conference on Afghanistan which was held in Berlin in March 2004.